Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 56: Poster IV
Q 56.26: Poster
Thursday, March 5, 2009, 16:30–19:00, VMP 9 Poster
Coupling ultracold atoms to micromechanical cantilevers — •David Hunger1,2, Stephan Camerer1,2, Theodor W. Hänsch1,2, Daniel König2, Jörg P. Kotthaus2, Jakob Reichel3, Margareta Wallquist4, Klemens Hammerer4, Claudiu Genes4, Peter Zoller4, and Philipp Treutlein1,2 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching — 2Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München — 3LKB, E.N.S., Paris — 4Universität Innsbruck, Austria
In our work we investigate different coupling mechanisms between ultracold atoms and mechanical oscillators. The motivation is to create hybrid quantum systems in which the atoms are used to cool, read out, and coherently manipulate the oscillators’ state.
In a first experiment we use surface forces to couple the vibrations of a classically driven micromechanical oscillator to the motion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a magnetic microtrap on a chip. At ∼ 1 µm atom-surface distance we observe parametric resonances induced by the coupling, corresponding to the excitation of different mechanical modes of the atoms. Such a coupling could be employed to couple atoms to molecular-scale oscillators like carbon nanotubes.
In a second experiment we want to study the coupling via an optical lattice. There, atoms are trapped in a 1D optical lattice that is created by reflecting a laser from a mechanical oscillator. Vibrations of the oscillator shake the lattice and can excite center of mass motion of the atoms. We propose that by applying laser cooling to the trapped atoms, cooling of the oscillator can be achieved. We discuss the feasibility of ground state cooling and show the current status of the experiment.